Fishtown.US - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19125

in and around Fishtown, Old Richmond, & East Kensington

jeffro and fishtown66 Hit the Nail on the Head , they about summed up my feelings upon reading the original post by dan . one of my sons knew every involved and to this day i still don't believe something this sick could have happen. and from what i know of the ones who did it they were far from average it was a very dark day for this neighbor hood how could they let this stuff get published ???

We should get a petition together stating what Jeffro so eloquently wrote and that we are writing/calling our friends and relatives asking them to NOT purchase this book.

I, for one, am going to inform people not to help this so-called writer profit from this disrespectable book.

__________________________

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

"Let Jesus be the salami sandwich in your life." Dan Roth

Very distasteful and irresponsible if you ask me. In my opinion, there are way too many liberties taken with the story at the expense of the feelings of families that are severely hurting. If this kid wanted to write his own version of the story, I feel that he shouldn't have used the name of our home, our neighborhood or the likenesses of parties involved. He never lived here, and he doesn't have to face the families of the victim or the murderers. And now he is going to profit only because this story is based on an actual crime that received national coverage. If he was a strong enough writer, he could have played up a more fictional angle, masking where the inspiration of the story came from, like a writer does. I read a good bit of the story, but as I went along, I got more and more infuriated. It is evident to me that he doesn't know this place. Furthermore, he is attempting to humanize the crime without ever actually speaking to anyone involved.

Having read quite a bit of the story online from its inception, I'd say the story has about as much credibility as an exploitation film like "The Class of 1984". I guess since the newspapers and web put case information out there, it's fair game for artists' inspiration. Call me a soft-hearted slob, but I would never ever do that to someone. Nothing I draw is important enough to put that kind of pain on someone. This isn't like writing a fictional account that was loosely inspired by true events. He uses photo reference of our neighborhood, and the likenesses of the murderers and victim. And it's not like a fictional take on the Lincoln assassination. Sweeney's family is still alive, and has to hear about this. After all they have been through, now they have to live with this ill-informed account of a tragedy that will never heal in their lifetime. There is no consideration for their loss or their pain.

For his sake, I hope he never has to Face Jason Swenney's family and friends face-to-face. In my opinion, this is a very selfish, inconsiderate, and short sighted project.

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Jeff Kilpatrick
http://jeffrokilpatrick.blogspot.com/